Greens MP Greg Barber is asking the Supreme Court to decide if the State Government is acting legally when it claims a report into the $1.5 billion troubled smart card can be kept secret because it is subject to cabinet privilege.
The Government had wanted to the case thrown out but Justice Karin Emerton today agreed to hear the matter.
Justice Emerton said Mr Barber’s case should be allowed to proceed and the “difficult questions” raised by the Government’s application needed to be fully argued and considered.
“Mr Barber should have a full opportunity to make his case … it is appropriate that these questions be re-visited at trial or on the hearing of a preliminary question,’’ Justice Emerton said in her judgment.
“It is appropriate that these issues be fully ventilated.”
The Deloitte report, which the Government commissioned after taking office and received in February 2011, was instrumental in the decision to keep myki but reduce its scope, including axing short-term tickets.
At the centre of the battle is if the courts have the power to order the government to release documents outside cabinet but considered by cabinet.
Outside court, Mr Barber said the government had to be accountable for myki and cited last week’s Auditor-General report which found a $166 million blow out since Ted Baillieu took over and flagged further blow outs as negotiations with the contractor continued.
"It’s round one Barber,’’ he said.
"Despite the fact that we’ve spent now $1.5182 billion dollars on myki and nearly half a million dollars reviewing it we don’t actually know anything about the current performance of myki or its contractor.
"According to the government it is simply the document they used in deciding to go ahead with myki and in their words to de-risk the contract.
"We now know they de-risked the contract by throwing a whole lot more money at the contractor but we don’t exactly why or how and we don’t know to this day the performance of myki.’’
Mr Barber has previously said the ramifications of the case could go beyond the Deloitte report.
He sought the report through the Legislative Council, which moved a motion requiring it to be tabled.
But Treasurer Kim Wells declined to release the document because it was prepared for Cabinet decision-making.
The report sought by the Legislative Council's order was prepared for the purpose of submission for consideration by a committee of Cabinet, Mr Wells said in a letter.
As such, the Legislative Council does not have the power to require the production of the document.
In an affidavit, filed at the Supreme Court in March, Mr Barber said there were no sessional orders of Parliament setting out a procedure to deal with the Government's refusal.
An order dealing with claims of executive privilege was no longer in force, he said in the affidavit.
The overtime and over budget myki will become the only public transport ticketing system in Melbourne on December 29.
Justice Emerton said Mr Barber’s prospects of success appeared poor based on the limited argument presented to date but she could not be satisfied his case has "no real prospect of success’’ as the government has argued.
She said she would let the two parties decide if the case should proceed to trial or be a hearing of a preliminary question.
heraldsun.com.au 20 Nov 2012
Another coverup of fraud by government, with tax payers funds.
The government is responsible for falsified tenders that gave a favourable result to government cronies.
Tax avoidance, secret hand shakes, the cover up of faulty hardware, and payment from the public's taxes for contractors sitting on their behinds are just some of the fraud committed.
As per usual with government cover ups, any so called court time will be a farce.
The people involved with this project should not only be publicly shamed, but never to be employed again, but as we all know, this will not be the case.
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